According to the Parliamentary Secretary of public administration, the relationship between the Government and professional chambers is balanced. Bence Rétvári broached this subject as he talked to journalists at the conference entitled “Professionalism – Responsibility – Quality” organised by the Association of Hungarian Professional Chambers in Budapest on Thursday. In the course of legislative work during the past 3 years, the Government cooperated closely with chambers of economy and professional chambers.

The President of the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry was an invited guest at the parliamentary session on the previous day, the Parliamentary Secretary reminded, before adding: in recent years, numerous mandates have been bestowed upon the Chamber; for instance, it had an opportunity to determine the training requirements for industry employees and to participate in implementing the training programmes.

As regards professional chambers, their competence today is not limited to classical disciplinary powers; indeed, they are now responsible for maintaining various certified public records.

Besides the Government’s efforts to establish a strong state and central Government, it also strived to provide an opportunity to trade associations and representative bodies of different sectors for self administration, thereby opening up new potentials for the organisations concerned, stressed Bence Rétvári. They believe that such autoregulation has greater legitimacy than ministerial regulations, and these public bodies vested with different administrative powers can carry out their duties smoothly, he said.

The fact that, for the first time in 10 years, chambers were invited for parliamentary consultation demonstrates that there is a deepening and well-balanced relationship between professional chambers and the Government, said the Secretary of State.

The opportunity received by professional chambers to arrange a conference in the Parliament building for the first time in 10 years is a good start, and the first step toward laying the groundwork for effective dialogue, remarked Andrea Gáts, Secretary General of the Association of Hungarian Professional Chambers.

It is of primary importance that all stakeholders of society are aware that professional chambers and chambers of economy are two entirely different institutional systems, emphasised the Secretary General.

At the conference preceding the press conference, András Doncsev, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resources (EMMI) recalled: after the socialist government had eliminated mandatory membership in the medical chamber, the chamber of pharmacists and the chamber of healthcare professionals in 2006, deprived them of a substantial part of their powers and stripped them of their authorisation for ethical supervision, in 2011 the National Assembly established the conditions for healthcare chambers to function as public bodies once again.

As the State Secretary put it: chambers are a part of the public administration structure and constitute a bridge between the profession and the state.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)